


Reading Together

by Aloices



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, non-idols au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23863096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aloices/pseuds/Aloices
Summary: Ruby was just looking for idol books, but when she encounters a quiet Hanamaru reading alone in the boosktore, she might have found a new friend.
Relationships: Kunikida Hanamaru/Kurosawa Ruby
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Reading Together

_Ding!_

The door chime echoed through the drowsy bookstore – the only noise heard in there since a long time.

A redheaded girl – Ruby Kurosawa, first-year student at Uranohoshi High School – walked in timidly, her hand clenched on the handle of her school-bag.

"Is- is there anyone in there?" she asked, her voice so low no one could actually hear her.

Getting an expected yet somehow frightening silence as the only answer, the girl decided to go straight to what she was looking for, hoping for an employee to show up at some point.

She was calmly turning to the magazines section when she noticed something – or rather, someone – in the middle of the aisle: it was a girl in a yellow sweater, sitting on the floor, her brown hair covering her face as she seemed deeply focused on a book.

Ruby let out a faint " _pigii"_ , startled by such a sight, but didn't move and simply tried to get the girl's attention.

"H- hello? Excuse-me?"

The bookworm finally noticed Ruby, straightened, and smiled at her:

"Hello! Sorry, were you talking to me? I was so absorbed into this book _zura_!"

_Oh, it's that girl_ , Ruby thought to herself, not noticing that the other girl had covered her mouth as if she didn’t mean to say that. _She's often in the high school library, reading all by herself or helping with the books. Even in junior high… I never heard her name._

"I'm Hanamaru Kunikida. I see you're wearing Uranohoshi High's uniform, are you a first year too?"

"I'm… I'm Ruby, Kurosawa…"

"Woaah, you're the Student Council President's little sister? Nice to meet you!" Hanamaru burst out, getting on her feet in no time to stare at Ruby with a big smile on her round face.

Completely panicked and flustered by this sudden outgoing introduction, Ruby started to get redder by the seconds. She tried to answer that it was nice finally meeting her too, but she just stuttered while avoiding looking directly into Hanamaru's yellow eyes. Finally, she turned around and hid her face in her hands.

"Are you okay? Are you not feeling well?" Hanamaru asked, tilting her head with confusion.

"I'm- I'm- I'm okay! I was just looking for- for some books, and I bothered you. I'm sorry!"

She tried to get away, but the other girl gently grabbed her sleeve.

Now, Ruby had always been on the shy side, sometimes even reacting very strongly when simply touched, but with that Hanamaru girl, she felt that something was different: there was an aura of kindness in her grabbing her sleeve like that. An aura that made Ruby feel like she wanted to know the reason behind this gesture. She turned around to face the other girl, barely containing that strange mixture of shyness and fascination in her green eyes.

"Actually, I come to this place so often I know all about it _zura!_ Want me to help you?"

"I…"

She looked at Hanamaru again. She had seen her so many times, alone in the library, reading with a smile. She had always thought it was kinda sad, for her to be alone like that so often, even though she seemed to enjoy herself.

_What can I do to help her? I don't even know that much about books, except for_ …

"…idols."

"Z _ura_?"

" _zura?"_

Hanamaru quickly covered her mouth again with her hands, whispering "Forget I said that" in hopes it would actually make the redhead forget.

"I don't… really know much about idols, but I know where to find the books about them!"

Without thinking, Hanamaru took Ruby's hand and guided her through the aisle of the still too empty bookstore. While looking at her back, Ruby couldn't stop smiling at the friendliness this girl showed her without even thinking twice about it.

"There it is! They've got all kind of books about past and current idols, references for beginners and-"

"Thank you!"

Ruby’s eyes sparkled at all the books on the shelves. She quickly chose three of them which got her attention, and the two girls went to the counter – at which an employee had finally appeared –, Hanamaru smiling at her new friend’s enthusiasm.

When they got out of the store, it was almost night time already. They said goodbye to each other and were ready to part ways, but Ruby suddenly grabbed Hanamaru’s sleeve the same way the girl did to her before, and fought against her hot and red face to ask her out.

“Can- Can I come by the library tomorrow and read those books with - with you? My sister would get mad at me if she saw me with them at home and-”

Hanamaru leaned towards her again, their hands joined together, and Ruby noticed her smile. The redhead’s heart skipped a beat as the girl replied.

“Absolutely _zura_!”

* * *

The next day after class, Ruby runned straight to the library, holding one of her idol books. She’d been thinking all evening and night about that moment she’d get to share with Hanamaru, trying to brush aside her shyness and overthinking about what to do in every situation they could get into.

When she quietly opened the door of the school’s library and entered the quiet yet crowded room, she looked for her new friend. And there she was: simply sitting at a table, a book in her hands, as focused as she was the day before in the bookstore. The window was open, and her hair was slowly dancing in the wind, a sunray hitting the scene with a heartwarming and beautiful atmosphere.

Ruby’s desire to be part of Hanamaru’s life and hobby was fighting with her fear of seeming out of place in such a beautiful scenery, and she didn’t move. She even thought of running away when the girl got up to a shelf, but Hanamaru finally noticed her as she was crouching and picking up a huge book with sunflowers on the cover.

“Ruby-chan!” Hanamaru exclaimed, waving at her.

The feeling of not having the choice anymore quickly went away when Ruby lost herself yet again in Hanamaru’s eyes and smile. She walked to her, clenching the book a little tighter against her chest, as if she was trying to hide her quick heartbeat.

“H- hi, Hanamaru-chan…”

As if she couldn’t see her shyness, or decided not to comment on it, Hanamaru simply got up and invited Ruby to sit at her table. They were right next to each other, and both opened their book and started to read in silence.

However, Ruby couldn’t focus as she was constantly glancing at Hanamaru’s book – or rather, at her –, so much that the other girl noticed it.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, I… I was just wondering what you were reading!”

The girl closed her book and showed Ruby the cover:

“It’s a coming of age story about a young girl living near sunflower fields. She meets someone who hides themselves behind the flowers, they become friends and grow up with each other. It’s really beautiful _zura_!”

Ruby turned red just with the thought of what she was about to say, but proceeded anyway, blushing even more as she heard herself say it.

“You’re so cute when you’re passionate about something!”

This time it was Hanamaru’s turn to blush: she gestured incoherently as she muttered something along the lines of “I’m not that cute I’m boring”, and quickly fixed her attention back on her book.

Thinking she may have said something inappropriate, Ruby started to come up with excuses in her head, but Hanamaru was quicker:

“I’m sure you’re cute too, when you talk about idols. The way your face lit up and your eyes sparkled yesterday in the bookstore… It was so inspiring _zura_!”

Ruby’s face was tomato red, and she reacted exactly like the other girl a minute ago: she almost shoved her entire head between the pages of her book, which made Hanamaru laugh.

“I can’t read if you’re this close to it!” Hanamaru exclaimed, still laughing, while getting her chair closer to Ruby’s. Their shoulders touched.

The two girls spent the rest of their afternoon like this, reading about the idols in Ruby’s book, the redhead adding infos and trivias for Hanamaru to understand each and every piece of information. When the school chime announced it was time for the students to head home, Ruby seemed to snap out of Heaven and turned to Hanamaru, profusely apologizing.

“Sorry! I’ve been keeping you all this time talking about idols, and you haven’t even read a page of your book…”

Hanamaru hit her with the sweetest and brightest smile Ruby had ever seen, her worries vanished before the girl even said anything.

“It’s okay, I can do that when I’m alone. It’s more interesting to read with someone, especially someone like you who’s so passionate about something I don’t know much about! I hope we can do that again!”

Ruby had to restrain herself from tearing up for a reason she had not yet understood. She simply smiled at Hanamaru, blushing again. Then, they both took each other's hands spontaneously, and said.

“Let’s-”

“Let’s be friends _zura_!”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction ever, and I honestly quite like how it turned out! Hope you enjoyed!  
> Thanks to [96617](https://archiveofourown.org/users/96617) for the beta!  
> Don't hesitate to leave a review.


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